The Zimbabwe Dollar Today September 13, 2007
Posted by Webmaster in Zimbabwe's Exchange Rate.comments closed
Today: 30,689.5
Yesterday: 30.458.8
Change: +0.76%
Cherish This One Step Forward While You Can — The Two Backwards Steps Are Starting September 13, 2007
Posted by Webmaster in Foreign Trade.comments closed
Cocaine flow to 26 cities curbed
Tough action by Mexico is driving down the cocaine supply in 26 U.S. cities, a recently declassified Drug Enforcement Administration analysis shows, an encouraging drop in narcotics crossing the border that law enforcement officials hope will continue.
As evidence of the short supply, prices have spiked sharply and purity has decreased since September 2006, says the analysis, which previously had not been made public. A gram of pure cocaine sold for about $118.70 in the spring, a 29% increase from last fall. Purity decreases when dealers add other ingredients, such as baby formula and sugar, to stretch the supply.
Cocaine prices are at their highest since the DEA began calculating the price and purity data in April 2005, when a pure gram of cocaine sold for $93.63.
“The law enforcement community and intelligence community is asking, ‘How did this work?’ and ‘How do we keep it going?’ ” says John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. “Less cocaine, less crack means fewer victims of drugs.”
(snip)
DEA intelligence agents credit a crackdown in Mexico by President Felipe Calderón, who sent 3,000 troops to corral two drug cartels engaged in a violent turf war.
“This new Calderón government is really taking a tough stance, and it’s really taking its toll on the trafficking organizations,” says Tony Placido, the DEA’s intelligence chief. About 90% of cocaine reaching the USA comes via Mexico.
“We had clear information from informants and from telecommunications intercepts that Mexico was the problem” for drug traffickers, Placido says.
This will all be undone soon. Two words: Mexican trucks.
Cat Fight September 13, 2007
Posted by Webmaster in Immigration, Politics.comments closed
Two stories about Julie Myers, President Bush’s nominee to be the next assistant secretary of ICE:
* CNN reports that she states that it would cost close to $100 billion to deport every illegal alien in the country. Since she’s a Bush appointee, I think there are ulterior motives to her statement, in that she is trying to discourage deporting anybody simply because the cost of deporting everybody would be so “steep” (in contrast to the “bargain” of spending $1 billion a day to alchemize Arab-Muslims in Iraq into freedom-loving democratic Vermonters). What she may not realize is that if you deport a small fraction of the 36 million illegal aliens in the country, the rest will deport themselves, and many more won’t even try to sneak in.
* Claire McCaskill once again has stepped up to the plate and hit a home run on the immigration issue. When Miss Myers had her hearing in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, McCaskill, who is on that committee, was the only one who had any harsh questions for the nominee. Among her contentions with Myers, who holds the position she was nominated for as a recess appointment, was that in the interim that she held the job, nobody that has been found to hire illegal aliens has been punished for doing so — in that, McCaskill essentially called Myers a whore for big business and the cheap labor lobby.
“I” Shot the Sheriff — But It All Depends on the Definition of “I” September 13, 2007
Posted by Webmaster in Black Crime, Police & Law Enforcement.comments closed
4 Miami-Dade Officers Shot, 1 Killed; Suspect On Run
CUTLER BAY, Fla. — Miami-Dade police say they are now looking for 25-year-old Shawn Sherwin Labeet in connection with the shootings of four officers.
One of the officers was killed in the shootings, which happened before 11 a.m. Thursday in southwest Miami-Dade near an apartment complex on Southwest 143rd Court.
Police originally identified Kevin Wehner as the suspect, but Cmdr. Linda O’Brien said Labeet had apparently stolen Wehner’s identity. Wehner notified Jacksonville police when he saw his picture on television. O’Brien said Wehner has nothing to do with the shootings.
A similar thing happened in St. Louis in the aftermath of the shooting death of St. Louis City Police Officer Robert Stanze in August 2000. The shooter was initially identified as one Eddie Belk, but it turns out his real name was Harold Richardson, and he stole the identity of someone of that name who was a North St. Louis County resident. The real Belk did have a relatively minor rap sheet, but according to himself, he was trying to turn his life around. He (i.e. the real Eddie Belk) was lucky that authorities figured out Richardson’s scam before he was accosted by any police officer for any other reason.
UPDATE 9/14: Seems like Mr. Labeet is no longer with us, as he has been dispatched to his Greater Reward by Miami-Dade P.D. officers, who shot him as a reaction to his trying to shoot at them. Nothing ever became him in life like the leaving of it.
